Valotka, who spoke about the drivers speaking “Churka” languages, defends himself: I said differently

M. Gimbutaitė drew attention to A. Valotka’s speech at the event held last Friday on Facebook.

“Children’s rights are being violated, which are violated by all kinds of transporters who speak “Church” languages,” says the head of the State Language Inspectorate, Audrius Valotka, in his report read at the REDA conference.

I even gathered a quick council – maybe it was heard, maybe they say “Turkic”?… But even though the recording is not of golden quality, that “ch” can be heard very clearly.

If it wasn’t enough to make statements about the occupied territories in the Vilnius region, equating the books of scientists whose position you disagree with to propaganda, maybe we can draw a line here at least?”, she said in a Facebook post.

A. Valotka’s speech did not go unheard at the conference itself.

Aira Niauronytė, the organizer of the event, the content and language editor, took the stage and publicly stated that she wanted to make a comment about A. Valotka’s report.

“The word ‘crickets’ was said there.” Audrius and I discussed this matter. I can’t let something like that go unheard because that would be somehow wrong. Audrius and I disagree on some things, on some rhetoric, it’s just that the conference distances itself from the kind of rhetoric chosen by Audrius Valotka”, she said.

“Turkic, Turkic maybe? Turkic languages ​​- Karakalpak, Kum, where does Central Asia go, Asia and the like”, – Delphi said the head of the State Language Inspectorate when asked about this speech on Monday.

A. Valotka said that he did not think that he should be criticized because he did not understand him.

“I think they didn’t understand, firstly, and secondly, I don’t understand why you should blow a bubble from every little thing,” he said.

The representative of the Freedom Party, Seimas Vice-Chairman Vytautas Mitalas announced on Monday that he will propose to join the State Language Inspectorate to the State Lithuanian Language Commission in the near future.

“There is a person in the civil service who must protect the language, but in public he called the transporters “churks”, compared the history of the Vilnius region with Donbas, and intended to teach the Lithuanian language to war refugees with sanctions,” the politician wrote on Facebook on Monday.

Mital went on to say that the culture minister used to talk to him nicely after that.

“As I understand it, it was not possible to agree on anything serious in the talks, because the minister did not value the content of those statements, but the frequency: “I don’t like it anymore that such statements are becoming so frequent,” said the minister today. I didn’t like it from the very beginning, and not only one or another of the official’s statements, but also the fact that such statements expose the duplication of the functions of the institution it represents, the State Language Inspectorate, with the State Lithuanian Language Commission. CPI does not help to foster language. Therefore, in the near future, I will submit draft laws regulating the connection of CPI to VLKK”, he writes.

At the end of the summer, the commission assembled by the Ministry of Culture issued a note to A. Valotka.

The Minister of Culture Simon Kairys then said that the aforementioned remark will have consequences when it comes to the issues of A. Valotka’s salary, bonuses and coefficients.

“I have no other way, because our verbal talks did not bring results. To talk about whether I see this person in his current position, after all, we are both heads of separate institutions, formal heads, and we have to follow those formalities in serious conversations. In this place, it is obvious that this situation does not increase trust”, he noted.

ELTA reminds that the head of the inspectorate received public criticism after he said on the LRT radio show about in July that the Polish name plates of villages in the Vilnius district not only mark the historical territory of Polish occupation, but also violate Lithuanian laws and should therefore be removed. The head of the CPI also equated these inscriptions with the marking of the Russian-occupied territories of Donbass.

Such a statement by A. Valotka also received an international reaction.

Not only the mayor of the Vilnius district, but also the minister of culture, the Polish ambassador to Lithuania and the president Gitanas Nausėda reacted negatively to the statements of the head of the inspection.